Rural-mail-delivery apparatus.



.PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.

J. M. BRANHAM. RURAL MAIL DELIVERY APPARATUS.

FILED-00125. 1906.

APPLICATION 2 SHEETFSHEET 1.

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PATENTEDVJAN. 14, 1903.

J. M. BR'ANHAM.

RURAL MAIL DELIVERY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.25. 1906.

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JAMES M. BRANHAM, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

RURAL-MAIL-DELIVERY APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1908.

Application filed October 25, 1906. Serial No. 340.518.

T 0 (LZZ whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs M. BRANHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Sangamon and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rural-MaiLDelivery Apparatuses and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is an improved. mail delivery apparatus for use on rural mail delivery routes for carrying mail between the road and the houses therealong, and it consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed. p

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mail delivery apparatus embodying my invention Fig. 2 is a detail perspective View of the road end of the apparatus; and. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the house end of the apparatus.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a post 1 at the road, which has a bar 2 at its upper end projecting from one side thereof. A stop post 3 is near the read post and has a ring or stop frame 4 at its upper end. An inclined wire 5 connects the bar 2 and the upper side of said stop ring or frame. A post or support 6 is near the house and to the same is pivotally connected a boom 7, which has a weight 8 at its lower end which normally raises said boom to a substantially vertical position and normally keeps such boom in such position. A bent arm 9 is secured to the upper end of the boom.

A traveling ring or frame 10 has a trolley pulley 11 at its upper side which operates on the fixed inclined wire 5. A run wire 12 connects the traveling ring or frame and the bent arm of the boom, and may be inclined in either direction to cause the mail box or car 13 to travel to or from the house. Such mail box may be of any suitable construction. The same is here shown as secured on one end of an elongated frame 14, which has standards 15 projecting from its upper side and pairs of pulleys 16 mounted therein to bear above and below the run wire, so that the mail box or car is suspended from and is adapted to run by gravity on the run wire to or from the house according to the direction in which the run wire is inclined. The traveling ring or frame is of such weight that it keeps the run wire taut, and when the boom is raised moves down on the fixed inclined wire, so as to incline the run wire toward the road and hence cause the mail box or car to run from the house to the road, and when the boom is lowered by the rope 17 or other suitable means, the traveling ring or frame is drawn upwardly on the fixed. inclined. wire to the arm at the upper end of the road post, by the tension on the run wire, the latter is inclined toward the house, and the mail box or car is caused to run by gravity from the read post to the house.

The traveling ring or frame is provided with a spring-pressed pawl or catch 18 which when the mail car runs to the road catches over the outer pulley thereof or otherwise engages the same to prevent the mail car from rebounding, either from the force of the impact or from any slackness' in the run wire. When the traveling ring or frame is run up 011 the fixed inclined wire, prior to starting the box or car back to the house, the pawl or catch runs on the arm of the road post and becomes thereby automatically disengaged from the mail box or car and the latter is released.

The outer end of the frame of the mail car, on which the box is secured, projects to such an extent as to run through the traveling ring or frame and hence support the mail box in such position as to be entirely clear of such frames and enable the mail carrier to readily place mail in or take the same from the box.

In the event that the distance from the house to the road is so great that the run wire would become slack to an excessive degree, I employ an intermediate or prop boom 19. The same is pivotally mounted on a post or support 20 and has near its upper end a weight 21, to normally lower the same. A chain or other suitable element 22 connects the lower portion of the prop boom to the support 20, to limit the angular movement of such prop boom, and to the upper end of the latter is secured an arm 23, which when such prop boom is raised by the cord or rope 24, engages the run wire to raise the same after the mail car has passed and hold the run wire in such inclined position as to cause the mail car to complete the run. It will be un derstood that one or a number of such prop booms may be employed, according to the length of the run.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion,

and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters- Patent, is,

In a device of the class described, a post planted adjacent to a roadway, an open stop frame fixed on the upper end of said post, a standard planted at a point re mote from the post and having an arm, a fixed run-wire extended at an inclination between and terminally engaged with said frame and arm, a traveler ring arranged for travel on said run-wire, a vertical support disposed adjacent to a house, a boom pivoted to said support and provided at its lower end with a Weight and at its upper end with a bent arm, a trolley wire extended between I and terminally engaged with the bent arm and the traveler ring, a box or car provided with-trolleys to travel on said trolley wire, a traction rope connected with the upper end of the boom and adapted for manual operation to cause the traveler ring to move upward onto the fixed run-wire for inclining the trolley wire downward from the road toward the house, said traveler ring being adapted, when the traction rope is released, to move automatically downward on the run-wire for inclining the trolley wire downwardly from the house toward the road, and a spring actuated locking dog pivoted to the traveler ring and formed for engagement with one of the trolleys to hold the car in normal position, said dog having a projecting portion adapted to contact with the standard arm for automatically releasing the car.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES M. BRANHAM.

Witnesses:

WARREN E. LEWIS, JULIA MoOABE. 

